It's a pretty simple formula for maximum profit- take a cheap old warehouse, throw up some cheap partitions, some quick and dirty plumbing to approximate a kitchen and bathroom and voila!... Instant quarter million dollar loft. Just remember not to waste any money replacing that century old boiler or fixing the leaky roof and crumbling foundation. Then bury some fine print in the sales contract that ties them to a long term contract with your management and maintenance companies.
It's a sign of the current loft lunacy that in search of century old historic space folks forget the history lesson taught by the last condo boom a mere quarter century ago. In the overheated housing market of the late 1970s apartments in then half century old buildings suddenly became condos and fetched dizzying prices. And again, most developers never bothered to upgrade the pipes and such behind the newly repainted walls.
In short time the market crashed, boilers burst, and leaky roofs sent muddy water cascading over all that fresh paint. Underfunded condo owner's associations went under and their owners defaulted en masse. By the time it was over the lenders were virtually mass mailing repossession notices. I pass by these rental buildings today and chuckle over the marketing hype of the time... I can chuckle because I didn't buy one.
Now if one really wants affordable housing and an "industrial" living environment there are plenty of bargains to be had in our currently depressed commercial space market. One can save thousands by doing plumbing and such oneself or acting as one's own general contractor. Better deals yet can be had in greater Minnesota... rather than waste a quarter million of more on a "loft", my friend bought a 2,000 square foot medical clinic building in Starbuck, Minnesota. for $90,000 she got up to date heat, air conditioning, a kitchen, and a bunch of bathrooms in a building that the old part of was only half a century old. Thrown into the deal was a former brick bank building from the 1920s, as big as many of Minneapolis' fashionable lofts all by itself.
My friends home in Starbuck is already half paid for and needs no repairs. Back in Minneapolis, the new "loft" owners may still find themselves with 30 years of payments to make on a crumbling condo with special assessments for new boilers to boot. The smart ones will run and kiss their credit rating goodbye while the city is stuck when the "lofts" go tax forfeit.
hangin' on in my all paid for single family home in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
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